Today we’d like to introduce you to Keyon Tuiteleleapaga.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Keyon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story starts in the summer of 1992 in Ansbach, Germany. My father had only been in the Army for a few years, but my little family had already been taken across the world from Compton, CA to Germany. (My mother is from Compton, my father is from Samoa). In 1999, my family relocated to El Paso, Texas. I was only 7 or 8 at the time, but I already had a love for movement and performance. I would lock myself in my room with Michael Jackson’s ‘Dangerous’ album and a burnt CD with ‘Dirty Pop by N’SYNC (and a random Billy Joel song) and I would PERFORM. I remember sitting in Church and picturing performances happening on the Alter (or stage, as I saw it) and down the aisles.
When I got to middle school, aside from learning to play the drums, I decided to join my school’s after-school Hip Hop team. There was an English teacher at the school by the name of Mrs. Smith. She wasn’t my teacher, but she sponsored the dance team and would always push me to better myself as a dancer and a student. No one in my immediate family knew how to pursue a career in entertainment, but they always supported me as I stumbled through the journey.
In 2007, my father was deployed back to Germany and my sister and I moved with my mother to San Antonio, TX, where I continued schooling at Karen Wagner High School. I began dancing with a local dance crew that went by the name of ‘Unifyd Soul.’ While in this crew, I learned different Hip Hop Styles like ‘popping’, ‘waving’, ‘tutting’ and began learning how to learn and perform choreography. This group of people soon turned into some of my greatest friends and teachers, on AND off the dance floor.
At the age of 15, I auditioned for my first job at Sea World of Texas in San Antonio. They hired me and my crew to dance during their Howl-O-Scream finale. That was the beginning of an 8-year run at Sea World Parks & Entertainment. I performed, choreographed and stage-managed in a variety of shows throughout the year, and even learned how to puppeteer and walk on stilts!
After a short semester at Texas Southern University in Houston, I left on my first tour with ‘Sesame Street Live!’
Working in children’s theater was always something I enjoyed because kids are just so great and so honest and so full of imagination and fun, I worked a few contracts with Sesame Street Live before saving up and moving to Los Angeles to pursue a professional dance career. I had no formal training, just years of experience. I knew very little about the works of the entertainment industry. I didn’t know what an agent was supposed to do for me or how auditions worked, but I’d taken a few visits to LA and felt like it was the place I needed to be.
Shortly after moving to LA, I was signed by Bloc Talent Agency, by way of Richmond Talauega, a choreographer I had looked up to and respected for years. Through Bloc, I began going to auditions and learning my way through Los Angeles. I booked my first commercial for Kenzo Paris and did my first awards show with Kendrick Lamar for the BET Awards. I was finally living my dream. Since then, I’ve moved to New York to train in certain styles and I’ve worked various jobs in the entertainment industry. I’ve danced for some of my favorite artists and have done a few commercials. (I’ve also managed to build quite the restaurant resume while supporting the journey)
In 2019, I toured with 2000s pop group, ‘Danity Kane’ for their reunion tour. Shortly after, I was hired to dance for Hip Hop legends ‘Salt-N-Pepa’ on their tour with New Kids On The Block and Naughty By Nature.
I’m currently still doing shows with Salt-N-Pepa while auditioning for other projects in Los Angeles.
When I’m not dancing, I write spoken word poetry and go to open mics in and around LA.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’d have to say that my biggest challenge thus far has been figuring out how to make a sustainable living from dance. And that isn’t just to say financially. It’s finding ways to sustain relationships with friends and family that I’ve left back home. Finding time to devote to other things I find important in life, while aggressively chasing the one thing I love. It was also tough learning and understanding how to move through the entertainment industry. Knowing and understanding whose classes to take and how to remain original in a place where popular trends thrive. I’ve also learned that you can get one thousand ‘No’s’ before you get that one ‘Yes’ that changes your life. I’ve definitely had a hearty share of ‘No’s’ while on this journey, but I’m always inspired to better myself and try again. I’d have to say that although the journey hasn’t been a smooth one, I’ve always been surrounded by the most supportive friends and a loving family.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Growing up, I had two close friends; Shawn and Desirae. They were siblings, also army brats, who lived a few doors down from us in El Paso. I grew really close to them and we all used to say we would be entertainers one day. We used to learn and choreograph routines to ‘Usher’ and ‘B2K’ songs and pretend to perform them on the neighborhood basketball court. At one point, we even went door to door, offering to perform our songs in our neighbors’ driveways for leftover Halloween candy. Shawn, Desi and I continued to ‘pursue’ or childhood dreams of being entertainers. They were even with me when I joined the Hip Hop team in middle school. We were famous in our own world and those are some of my most precious memories.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @keyontuiteleleapaga
Image Credit:
Tony Carabba, bifocalphotos, Mehan Photography
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